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Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Eyewitness
Review: Although this guide book did have useful information and was small and easy to carry, I thought our Eyewitness Venice travel guide was much better. The Lonely Planet descriptions seemed to tell me about everything that was going badly in Venice and focused very little on the beautiful and positive side of the city. I would recommend checking out the Eyewitness book instead.
Rating: 
Summary: For Venice - anything but Lonely Planet. Sorry.
Review: Some devoted followers of Lonely Planet will immediately click "NOT HELPFUL" to avenge this comment, I am sorry if this reviews disappoints you, but one has to be honest, right?Yes, I admit I am not the greatest fan of Lonely Planet - although I recognize there are destinations where no-one does the trick better than this cheap-and-nasty house of publishing. In Africa, for example, Lonely Planet was the best guide available. But Venice, this magical and charming little patch of magic in the Adriatic? This guide is a joke, but I am not laughing. The book is more concerned with righting the world than with doing its job. Do you want to read more of the same moans about evils of international tourism and how irresponsible travellers are ruining the world? If the answer is yes, go buy this book. It will certainly accomplish the mission of ruining all the enjoyment of travel to one of the most beautiful cities in the world. However, if you need a travel guide, not a campaign newsletter, you will be better off with another book. A book which might tell you that all the tourist crowds in Venice occupy perhaps five percent of the city's territory, while the rest is the real Venice with people getting on with their lives, buying groceries in small shops and hanging their washing outside, Italian-style. Another book may show you how charming, how crazily enchanting and breathtakingly delicate this city is. Maybe with another book you will realize that all the alarmist moans about Venice which will die in five/ten/fifteen years unless tourism is banned are just another shameless exagerrations, concocted by scaremongers and killjoys. Writing is excessively dry and is difficult to follow or enjoy. I find it hard to believe that a reviewer was pleased with maps - they are just sad and amateurish, worse than anything that I have seen in my life, aside from Lonely Planet Iceland and Greenland, which is and probably will be the world champion of poor mapping. This guide is not a match for Eyewitness or Fodor's, it does not even come close to being a good guidebook. Do yourself a favor - buy something else.
Rating: 
Summary: INVALUABLE ... Lonely Planet kicks it up several notches!
Review: The 3 reviews earlier refers to the older version of this guide. Lonely Planet has recently started to revamp all their guides and I have the new Rome, Florence & Venice. They are absolutely flawless. I will focus on Venice here (Rome & Florence has the same format as well). You will have an Introduction to Venice, City Life, Art & Architecture, History, Food (as Italy was united in 1870, every region has their specialties) Shopping recommendations, extended accomodation listings from 5 star to budget. Excursions to Verona (home to the great Italian dry red Amarone), Padua etc., color map section, entertainment, directory of transportation and practicalities, walking tours in each sestieri etc. Everything is grouped in their respective sestieri (old municipal divisions) for ease. As Venice is broken down into 6 sestieri (or old municipal divisions), you will have 6 recommended walking tours in each sestieri accompanied with maps. Walking tours range from 2.5km to 9 km (1 mile = 1.609km) ... absolutely awesome ... Special and/or useful interesting reads in color boxes ... Top 5 recommendations for small charming hotels, hotel gardens, luxury hotels, museums, galleries, books, cds, films, activities for children, meat restaurants, gelato shops, pastry shops, foreign eats (if you ever get tired of eating Italian), cafes, drinking establishments, shopping areas, craft shops & shops for Kids. Top 10 notable buildings. Top 5 quirky events. Commentaries on important sites, churches, artwork etc. Floorplan of Basilica di San Marco. Information on tickets, opening/closing times. The directory is very useful with URLs, email and tel. nos. and recommended transportation tickets. Notes on special museum and church tickets. Recommended walking/vaporetto tours to take. Highly recommended ... made planning sooo easy!
Rating:
Summary: INVALUABLE ... Lonely Planet kicks it up several notches!
Review: The 3 reviews earlier refers to the older version of this guide. Lonely Planet has recently started to revamp all their guides and I have the new Rome, Florence & Venice. They are absolutely flawless. I will focus on Venice here (Rome & Florence has the same format as well). You will have an Introduction to Venice, City Life, Art & Architecture, History, Food (as Italy was united in 1870, every region has their specialties) Shopping recommendations, extended accomodation listings from 5 star to budget. Excursions to Verona (home to the great Italian dry red Amarone), Padua etc., color map section, entertainment, directory of transportation and practicalities, walking tours in each sestieri etc. Everything is grouped in their respective sestieri (old municipal divisions) for ease. As Venice is broken down into 6 sestieri (or old municipal divisions), you will have 6 recommended walking tours in each sestieri accompanied with maps. Walking tours range from 2.5km to 9 km (1 mile = 1.609km) ... absolutely awesome ... Special and/or useful interesting reads in color boxes ... Top 5 recommendations for small charming hotels, hotel gardens, luxury hotels, museums, galleries, books, cds, films, activities for children, meat restaurants, gelato shops, pastry shops, foreign eats (if you ever get tired of eating Italian), cafes, drinking establishments, shopping areas, craft shops & shops for Kids. Top 10 notable buildings. Top 5 quirky events. Commentaries on important sites, churches, artwork etc. Floorplan of Basilica di San Marco. Information on tickets, opening/closing times. The directory is very useful with URLs, email and tel. nos. and recommended transportation tickets. Notes on special museum and church tickets. Recommended walking/vaporetto tours to take. Highly recommended ... made planning sooo easy!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent travel guide
Review: The guide itself - like most Lonely Planet guides - is divided into basically two parts: First, things to know before you go, like history, geography and climate as well as information about visas, customs, money, health, etc. Second, the "traditional" description of places, monuments and museums as well as tips of where to stay and where to eat. The book is written in a casual way that makes reading easy, but still gives precise information when needed. On my last trip to Venice I found that almost all prices, opening times and other details where up to date. Another detail I liked was that some recommended hotels had their e-mail addresses in the guide. It made advance reservation so easy, and I am not talking about a Hilton, but a midrange hotel. One point that some people might find offensive is that sometimes the authors don't hesitate to give their personal opinion about politics, lifestyle, etc. But if you just take it for what it is, an opinion, and are able to go, see for your self, and make up your own mind, than this travel guide is for you. I really recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Venice is a "must see" and this guide is a "must have".
Review: Venice is slowly sinking (literally) and some say that it is because of the additional weight of tourist visiting the island (at peak tourist tides - high summer - 100,000+ tourists a day). Venice is comprised of one hundred islands, stapled together by 400 bridges, water taxis and gondola hawkers, making this one of the most captivating cities of the world, and one that especially needs and deserves its own guide. Damions Simonis has produced the definitive guide on Venice. In his "Lonely Planet Venice" you have brilliant maps, a solid introduction section that covers Venice's history, government, economy, ecology, climate etc. An informative practical travel section and most important, a reliable and up to date listing of recommendations for lodging, restaurants, entertainment, places to see and things to do. These, along with the beginning of Internet references (though he fails to include hotel web sites and email addresses), make this a great guide on Venice. If you are planning to spend your time in Italy, and mainly in this city of romantic waterways and sumptuous architecture, you deserve the best guide out today - Lonely Planet Venice. Highly recommended
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